Audio Video News

“I’m terrified of my new TV,” said legal eagle Michael Price in his blog for the New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice. His Samsung Smart TV came with a camera and microphone for gesture and voice control—and a 46-page privacy policy.

Price worried that the TV is logging “where, when, how, and for how long you use the TV,” using cookies to detect viewing and interaction with content, apps, and e-mails, while routinely ignoring do-not-track requests. Price quoted the privacy policy: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.” The camera and mic may be on even when the TV is supposed to be off.

“I do not doubt that this data is important to providing customized content and convenience,” wrote Price, “but it is also incredibly personal, constitutionally protected information that should not be for sale to advertisers and should require a warrant for law enforcement to access.”

Media analyst Gary Arlen commented in Multichannel News: “These are valuable research features that give TV makers information they have never known about their customers. They also provide more intimate research capabilities than Nielsen. Hence they offer enormous value to program creators and distributors.” But, Arlen added, Samsung’s privacy disclosure “does little to inform viewers how or what personal data would be swept into the cloud for infinite future analyses.”

Samsung replied to Arlen: “We work to ensure that the personal data of our consumers remains secure and our products are not privy to hacker vulnerabilities. We monitor security risks in our Smart TV platform to make sure our existing products meet the latest security standards and new products are inoculated against malware and other risks.”